Antique Prints, Maps, & Books of Natural History, Botanicals, & More
Lot 66661:
Description
This five volume set includes two works and numerous originally hand-colored lithographs. The set includes
A History of North American Birds … Land Birds … [With:] Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Vol. XII. The Water Birds of North America. These were published in Boston by Little Brown and Company in 1875 and 1884 respectively. The works are attributed to Spencer Fullerton Baird, Thomas Mayo Brewer, and Robert Ridgway. Ridgway was responsible for the illustrations.
The volumes are bound in half dark red Morocco over marbled paper boards, spines with raised bands forming six compartments, tooled and lettered gilt. "One of the great works on North American ornithology and for many years a standard reference … the first major work on North American birds to supersede Audubon’s Ornithological Biography of 1831-39 as a comprehensive general source." (Ellis Collection)
Land Birds is the first three volumes. Volume 1 has 17 hand-colored lithographs, 26 colored lithographs, and in-text figures, and complete text. Volume 2 has 13 hand-colored lithographs, 26 colored lithographs, in-text figures, and complete text. Volume 3 has 6 hand-colored lithographs, 8 colored lithographs, in-text figures, and complete text.
Water Birds are the last two volumes of the work. Volume 1 contains 134 hand-colored text figures, numerous uncolored text figures, and complete text. Volume 2 contains 201 hand-colored text figures, numerous uncolored text, figures, and complete text.
This was an important work on American birds. “This work contains a description of the birds of North America north of Mexico, including Greenland and Alaska. The focus of this work is an account of the life history of the species, to which is added information about the geographical distribution of the birds and a brief description of the eggs and the individual species. Baird and Ridgway supplied the descriptive parts of the work, while Dr. Brewer dealt with the habits of the birds.” (Anker 25)
Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887) was considered to be one of the foremost American ornithologists of the 19th century. In 1880, Baird appointed Robert Ridgway (1850–1929) as the curator of birds at the Smithsonian. Ridgway also created the American Ornithologists’ Union in 1883.
This is considered the rare deluxe edition, colored, and with additional illustrations. A letter from the librarian at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia reveals the existence of the present deluxe issue of the
Land Birds, with additional hand colored plates after Ridgway: "While the existence of an edition of this work with these plates may be known to many ornithologists, yet there is no printed record of such, as far as the present writer is aware. No mention of these plates is made in Coues’s ‘Bibliography’ nor in the several reviews of the
Land Birds to which I have had access. Dr. C. W. Richmond informs me that Mr. Ridgway has never seen a copy of the work with these plates although he has some loose plates in his possession" (letter from William J. Fox published in The Auk, October 1902). A contemporary advertisement (in an 1882 edition of The Scientist’s International Directory), however, reveals that this deluxe edition with extra illustrations "beautifully colored by hand" was available for $75 in cloth (as here) or $95 in full morocco. Little Brown & Co. advertisements also confirm that their
Water Birds was published in both uncolored ($10 per volume) and colored ($30 per volume) issues, describing the latter: "In the hand colored edition of the
Water Birds the illustrations of heads are most exquisitely executed in water colors from patterns prepared by Mr. Ridgway."
Paper Size: ~ 7 1/2" by 10 3/4"; Binding ~ 8 3/8" by 11"
Condition report:
The work is in very good to excellent condition overall. There may be a few minor imperfections or faint marks to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.
Share this lot:
